25 January 2023

Rachael Hanley-Browne, President of EMCC UK, writes about the formation of a new EMCC UK Special Interest Group, focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility.

As a membership organisation, we have responsibilities towards both our community and our profession. In 2023, we find ourselves working and living in a turbulent and challenging environment, and there are no signs of this changing. Added to that, we have just emerged from a global pandemic, and the aftershock is still reverberating. So what can we do?

I’d like us to harness our collective energy and expertise for good and to support others; both among our members and beyond to our wider society.

I believe that we have huge amounts to give and to offer and I know that many of us already do voluntary and pro bono work outside of EMCC UK. But typically, we don’t really collate or organise our efforts in the UK with a common clarity of purpose – ‘Coaching through Covid’ being a notable exception. So given our rapid growth, combined with the strength and depth of our membership, we now have an opportunity to do something meaningful and impactful on a larger scale.

If you are interested in leading or getting involved in a Corporate Social Responsibility Special Interest Group I’d love to hear from you. There are two aspects to this.

Firstly to develop a coordinated effort towards projects that we (our members) view as worthwhile. A good example of this may be to link with a charity or charities where our expertise can make a big difference. For example, I am currently in conversation with a national charity about how our coaches and mentors might offer telephone support; we'll see where that leads.

Secondly, to create an ethics committee that reviews both internal and external requests to EMCC UK for volunteers, pro bono work, or funding.

Please drop me a line if you’d like to help me get this off the ground. It will only work if you, our members, are behind us.

Contact me here:

[email protected]

Image by Signature Pro on Unsplash